Strainer-protector for drinking vessels



July 3, 1956 B. GAINES ET AL STRAINER-PROTECTOR FOR DRINKING VESSELS INVENTORS BY on! Bernard Gaines Maurice Goldman Filed Dec. 10, 1951 United States Patent STRAINER-PROTECTOR FOR DRINKING VESSELS Bernard Gaines and Maurice Goldman, Miami, Fla. Application December 10, 1951, Serial No. 260,912 1 Claim. (Cl. 210-163) This invention relates to protectors for drinking vessels which may either be made integral with the drinking vessel or may be applied to drinking vessels now in common usage, whereby it renders the same sanitary and at the same time prevents ice or other floating matter in the vessels from coming into engagement with the users mouth.

A primary object of this invention is to provide a protector for drinking vessels which is of simple design and construction whereby it may be economically manufactured.

Another object of this invention is to provide a protector whereby a glass or other drinking vessel may be used without the users mouth touching said drinking vessel.

Another object of this invention is to provide a protector for drinking vessels which has a portion disposed in the path of the liquid contained within the drinking vessel so as to prevent floating matter in .the liquid from striking the users mouth.

A further object of this invention is to provide a protector for drinking vessel which is disposable and may be applied to any size drinking vessel.

These, together with various ancillary objects and fea tures of the invention, which will later become apparent as the following description proceeds, are attained by the present invention, a preferred embodiment of which has been illustrated by way of example only in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a perspective view of the improved protector shown applied to an ordinary drinking glass;

Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse sectional view, taken substantially upon the plane indicated by the section line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary vertical transverse sectional view of a drinking vessel having formed integral therewith the improved protector;

Figure 4 is a top plan view of the protector of Figure 1 shown extending through only a part of a circle;

Figure 5 is a top plan view of a modified form of protector; and,

Figure 6 is a plan view of a blank from which the improved protector for drinking vessels is formed.

Referring now more specifically to the accompanying drawings, wherein like numerals designate similar parts throughout the various views, it will be seen that the improved protector is shown in Figure l as being applied to a conventional drinking glass generally referred to by the reference numeral 10. As will be seen by referring to Figure 2, the protector which is generally designated by the reference numeral 12 is formed of a first flange portion 16 and a second flange portion 18 which are in spaced parallel relation, and formed between them is a downwardly directed groove in which is received the upper portion of the drinking glass It Integral with the flange portion 18 is a third flange portion 20 of lesser height than the flange portions 16 and 18 whereby its upper edge is disposed below the rim 22 of the glass 10. Integral with the upper edge of the flange portion 20 is a downwardly directed flange portion 24 which is of lesser width than the flange portion 20. Integral with the lower edge of the flange portion 24 is a guard portion 26, which is disposed normal to the plane of the flange portion 24. As is clearly shown in Figures 1 and 4, the guard 26 consists of a plurality of adjacent triangular elements 28 having their bases integral with the flange portion 24.

Referring now to Figure 6, it will be seen that the protector may be formed of a substantially rectangular sheet 14. The sheet 14 may be of any material, but a heavy waterproof paper is preferred, as the protector is intended to be used only once and then disposed of. If desired, the waterproofing may be in the form of a wax coating. The sheet 14 is provided with a plurality of approximately parallel bend lines 39, 32, 34 and 36, with the adjacent bend lines being on the opposite side of the sheet. One edge of the sheet 14 is cut to provide a plurality of triangular elements 28 with their bases coinciding with the bend line 36. It is readily apparent that the sheet 14 may be shipped in its flat state to the user where it is then folded on the bend lines 30, 32, 34 and 36 to form the protector 12.

Since it is only necessary to protect a portion of the rim 22 of the drinking glass 10, it is not necessary for the protector 12 to cover the entire periphery of the glass 10 as shown in Fig. 1. The protectors 12 are preferably made of a constant length, whereby they either cover the entire rim 22 of a glass as shown in Figure l, or only a portion thereof as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 5 illustrates a modification wherein the guard portion is of a diflerent design. The guard elements 38 of the modified protector 40 has a continuous free edge 42 which when applied to a drinking vessel is arcuate in plan view. The construction of the flange portions of the protector 40 is the same as shown in Figure 2, and the guard portion 38 is integral with a fourth flange portion. The guard 38 is provided with a plurality of triangular cutouts 44 extending from the fourth flange portion to substantially the edge 42, the apexes of the triangular cutouts 44 being adjacent the edge 42. Since the triangular cutouts 44 extend almost across the width of the guard 38, the protector 40 may be folded from a single sheet similar to that shown in Figure 6.

Figure 3 illustrates a drinking vessel 46 which has the improved protector formed integrally therewith. The drinking vessel 46 consists of a first flange portion 48 which forms the sides of the vessel. Integral with the upper edge of the first flange portion 48 and folded back thereupon to form a rib is a second flange portion 50 which extends into the drinking vessel 46 a short distance. Integral with the lower edge of the second flange portion 50 is an upwardly directed third flange portion 52 which terminates below the rim 54 of the vessel 46. A fourth flange portion 56 is attached integrally with the upper edge of the flange portion 52. The flange portion 56 is also downwardly directed and terminates above the lower edge of the flange portion 52. The flange portions 48, 50, 52 and 56 are in continuous parallel relation to provide a stiff upper portion of the drinking vessel 46. A guard portion 58 is integral with and normal to the lower edge of the flange portion 56. The guard portion 5'8 may be of any desired configuration including those shown in Figures 4 and 5.

It will be noted that since the protectors are normally flat and are arced in order to be placed over a rim of a drinking vessel, that the protectors have a tendency to return to their normal flat position and thereby exert a pressure on the surfaces of the drinking vessel whereby they tightly adhere thereto without the necessity of securing means such as glue, clamps, etc.

From the foregoing, the construction and operation of the device will be readily understood, and further explanation is believed to be unnecessary. However, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art after a consideration of the foregoing specification and accompanying drawings, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction shown and described, but all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

A protector for drinking vessels comprising an integral member having a first portion, a second portion in concentric relation thereto, third and fourth portions of progressively decreasing Width, said third portion being in contiguous concentric relation to said second and fourth portions, a fifth portion normal to said fourth portion, said fifth portion forming a guard with open areas therein for permitting passage of liquid therethrough, all of said portions being annular, and first and second portion being spaced from each other and connected at their upper ends 7 thereby forming a downwardly opening groove for receiving a rim of a drinking vessel, said guard including a plurality of adjacent triangular elements having their bases integral with the fourth portion, the diverging sides of said elements forming open areas for passage of liquid and preventing passage of solids for protecting the mouth of a person drinking from the vessel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 553,836 Bruun Feb. 4, 1896 576,196 Johnson Feb. 2, 1897 618,614 Possons Jan. 31, 189 955,519 Lazarus Apr. 19, 1910 1,122,393 House Dec. 29, 1914 1,192,824 Bohlman July 25, 1916 1,213,319 Whitaker Jan. 23, 1917 1,717,170 Pelletier June 11, 1929 2,075,721 Hornmel Mar. 30, 1937 2,094,869 Ballard Oct. 5, 1937 2,107,309 Smith Feb. 8, 1938 2,116,418 Smithson May 3, 1938 2,265,403 Smith Dec. 9, 1941 2,317,046 Fleming Apr. 20, 1943 2414,697 Pettersson Jan. 21, 1947 2,431,059 Marshall Nov. 18, 1947 2,534,614 Michael Dec. 19, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 123,940 Germany Oct. 1, 1901 23,619 Great Britain Nov. 3', 1906 

